Giving made convenient
You can give online using our secure donation pages shown above or you can give by phone by calling toll-free 1-866-525-HOPE (4673).

Receive income tax savings on your final gift of 2016
As a reminder, give online on or before Saturday, December 31, 2016 and lower your cost of giving by as much as 40%, or more, through the income tax savings it creates in 2016.

Friday, December 16, 2016

When you give gifts from HOPE International Development Agency's Gifts of HOPE catalogue, you are changing lives, including your own.

Each gift has been carefully selected in order to give you multiple opportunities to help children and families lift themselves out of poverty.

The gifts you give will last well beyond the Christmas season and will continue to transform lives for years to come.

Your gifts will make this Christmas a very joyous occasion for a father, mother, or child struggling under the weight of poverty this season.

You can give gifts that rescue children from poverty by providing them with an education that prepares them for a bright future and helps them overcome the prejudice and marginalization that accompanies poverty.

You can give gifts that enable families to create a much better life than what they currently endure.

You can give the gift of good health – something very few families have experienced in their lifetime.

You can give clean water, a gift that has the power to transform not only families, but their communities as well.

Giving a gift from this year’s Gifts of HOPE catalogue is also a wonderful way to show you care about the people in your life as well as the poor.

You can give a gift on behalf of family members, friends, neighbours, or colleagues.

Giving gifts that change lives and last well beyond the season is the best ways to celebrate Christmas.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Devi and one of her children in front of their bio-sand water filter decorated with the Canadian flag.

Devi and her husband, an agricultural laborer, have two young children and live in a rural village in the province of Andra Pradesh, India.

Devi has belonged to a women’s self-help/savings group for 10 years, and has been treasurer for the last three years. It was through her participation in a self-help group that Devi heard about bio-sand water filters. She was immediately interested and later attended a training program to learn how to use the filter.

Bio-sand water filters, manufactured locally in India, are highly effective at removing bacteria and pathogens from drinking water and use relatively simple materials, like sand, to transform harmful water into healthy water.

Shortly after learning about the filters, and with support from HOPE International Development Agency, Devi received a bio-sand water filter of her very own.

Devi happily shares about the difference the filter has made for her and her family: “We use the water from the filter both for cooking and drinking. The water from the filter is very cool and clean. After we started using the filter we stopped falling ill. We are very happy about this.”

With the support of HOPE International Development Agency, 200 families similar to Devi’s received bio-sand water filters this year.

With the gift of clean water, they now enjoy better health and as a result, a chance to build a better life.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Chris and Georgie at a HOPE International Development Agency project site in Ethiopia.

From a friend of HOPE International Development Agency:

Recently my wife, Georgie, and I visited some of HOPE International Development Agency’s (HOPE) most recent projects to witness the impact. As we bumped along a newly constructed dirt road, cut into a steep hillside, we were struck by how HOPE seeks to work alongside and empower the communities it helps.

The road, for example, had been built entirely by the community in order to enable HOPE to transport construction materials to the community. It was no small undertaking driving along it, let alone building it - the community had done a great job just enabling HOPE to get there.

We visited an established water project where HOPE had nearly completed its three-year support program. It was obvious the whole community had been transformed. The agriculture was very organized, the housing was better, there was more infrastructure, it was more hygienic, and Women’s Self Help Groups were running successful businesses.

When asked how their businesses were changing their lives, the women told us about how they were now able to invest in their families, in their children's education, and their futures.

It was clear that the Self Help Groups have offered an additional means for empowerment. This was brought home to us when we saw a newly formed Women’s Self Help Group travelling to the nearby town to open bank accounts for the first time for their group business and personal enterprises. Later in the day we saw them again, easily recognizable as they celebrated their achievement. It was a very significant day for them, one to be marked.

The long-term commitment to supporting these groups, and indeed the community as a whole, is having a tangible impact that is transforming lives and bringing hope. I for one am very glad to be a part of HOPE’s work!